The Greatest Cycling Innovation You've Never Heard Of | Shimano Hyperglide 

Do you think Hyperglide is one of the most underrated innovations in cycling? Let us know in the comments 👇

"In Stock" would be a far greater innovation right now!

I'm 65 years old, and started serious cycling back in the 70's with friction-shifting 5-speed equipment. I can attest firsthand as to the dramatic difference that STI and Hyperglide made in the sport. I've still got a 1990 Bridgestone RADAC 3100 aluminum-framed bike with Dura-Ace (7-speed), which was my first introduction to Hyperglide. Really enjoyed this segment. As always, thanks much for sharing. Steve

After a couple of decades of seeing "Hyperglide" on Shimano gears it's great to know the history behind it!

Ollie is one of the most talented presenters on GCN. I really like his delivery and expressions that send a message. Always able to make one laugh and enjoy the content.

Ollie gets so excited its amazing. GCN don't lose him he really brings those videos to life

This man is so passionate about what he does, it is really nice to see, I could listen to anything as long as it comes from a place of passion. Not really that interested in Bicycles but really enjoyed the video, thank you

Used to own a bike shop in the 80s and 90s :) fun memories :)

Hyperglide legitimately changed my life. I was two years in to mountain biking and I upgraded to a1989 Specialized Stumpjumper Team. It transformed mtb capabilities. I lived on a bike saddle for the next several years and I sincerely believe that wouldn't have been the case had I not found this magical new tech.

i've ridden and worked on uniglide,let's just say i'm very happy shimano came out with hyperglide. uniglide was a self tightening pain to take off, but it was cool you could flip the cogs and basically get yourself a new cassette minus the lock ring.

This just multiplied my appreciation towards modern day bikes by 10.

I'll wait for claris Di2

Cassettes were a huge improvement over freewheels for nearly totally eliminating broken axles on the rear . Before Hyperglide if you wore out two cogs most used you could replace them for a few Dollars each . Also any gear combination could be made where Hyperglide is limited . After Hyperglide the cost was at least fourfold as the cogs and spider were replaced as a unit . Greater Shimano profit . Don't ask about their problematic early electronic shifting . I worked full time as a bicycle mechanic from the early 80's until 2016 .

I remember Shimano first introduced Hyperglide in the MTB XT groupset in the late 80's. It was a game changer. It then followed onto the road and became the benchmark in shifting.

Probably the most unknown innovation. I've been riding bikes with this technology for years and i wasn't even aware of its existence until last year when I saw the word 'hyperglide' printed on my new cassette. It's less visible in comparison with STI for example.

Lol, I was cleaning my cassette the other day and wondering about the different teeth shape etc... I figured there was a good reason behind it. Thanks Ollie!

LOVE your enthusiasm for bike mechanicals and history. More of this. It’s brilliant!

This has to be one of your best videos. Ollie’s presenting skills keep us waiting for the next one. Just great!

I could hear the tech geek in Ollie's enthusiasm. :)

To a newbie, information like this is fascinating. Please do more of these, Ollie!

That was an amazing video. Thank you so much. I hadn't heard of GCN Tech channel before, but I'm glad I found it. This is, IMO, far superior to usual GCN content. Ollie is a legend!

Finally, the System and its evolution well explained without skipping the Homo Erectus of Sprocket-Sets, Uniglide... in detail! Big Thumbsup for that! :)

Ollie is the master of these short technical presentations! Great stuff.

Nice piece Ollie! These deeper looks into bike tech and history are great.

Being 60 (!) I remember well when hyperglide first became available in the 80s. This video understandably gets it all wrong, because its makers aren't old enough to have been there for the introduction. The important innovation was that you could finally shift under full power, not that shifting was somehow made 'more precise'. Shifting was always just fine when coasting or pedaling lightly but quite impossible when hammering - chains would twist, seize and mangle and could be ruined. Hyperglide was an even bigger deal for the mtb crowd because you could finally downshift under full power on technical climbs.

I noticed that I had a problem when I - as a German - walked into a German bike shop and had to ask if the mechanic spoke English because I didn't know many German bike terms...realizing that all my knowledge about tech comes from GCN

I still vividly recall seeing a pair of Campagnolo Delta brakes in a display case at the local bike shop. Back then, they looked like alien technology.

I started out with Huret Alvit shifters and derailleurs on my first 10-speed in 1966, and had that bike until 1990 or so, then took a break from bike riding until around 2008 when I bought a Specialized Crosstrail. The bike world sure had changed! Instead of “side-yanker brakes, I had BB-5 cable actuated ball-bearing disc brakes, and Shimano Deore handlebar mounted index shifters, so I am guessing it also came with the Hyperglide cassette. There has been a bit of a learning curve since I do all of my own bike maintenance and fine tuning brakes and the shifter required some RU-vid videos. I was pleased by how easy shifting was on a modern bike, and now I know why. Thanks for the content.

The straight-through "corncob" he uses for comparison is ace!

Never seen someone beeing so exited about splines and threads as Ollie. Love it!

I’m not particularly techie but Ollies enthusiasm carries you along. Really enjoyed that! I am officially a potential saddo!

no i remember hyperglide, i was getting into racing and loved the tech coming out at the time, i jumped straight on it because it was so much better under load exspecially when racing, ooooh what an advantage

The '80's was a hotbed of tech. I remember the days I poured over bike mags soaking in the latest.

This is truly good insight, thanks Thanks GCN

Amazing content GCN! Keep these coming!

The greatest cycling innovation…they found out that a bottom bracket should definitely be threaded

Shimano made gear shifting so much better from when I started racing in the 1980's. The biggest upgrades where Hyperglide, STI so you could keep your hands on the bars and "click"-shifting making shifting faster and safer. Upgraded to electronic (Ultegra 12 speed Di2) last year. A joy to use!

Another great video! Thanks Ollie👍👏

I guess some of us are old enough to remember the change in rear sprockets, I immediately recognized the ramps and chamfers were for smoother shifting...

I have ridden both, the difference isn't that wild. Thanks for the very interesting background!

I'm gonna be that guy and say - I been knew about hyperglide. Took it for granted obviously, but with all my 8 speed cassettes having the big-ol "hyperglide" badge on them it was hard for me not to know about it 😅

I actually remember having g the discussion with people back in the day that their cassettes weren’t worn out like he described in the video. What a throwback.

Fascinating video, thanks! I had always seen this feature on my cassette, but thought it might just be an artistic design choice. Very cool!

Had a weird thing at 0:29 when I recognised the few seconds of music and spent some minutes remembering what it was. Supposed to be 80s synth but in fact from a 2019 album by electronic guru Brendon Moeller.

This is such a good presentation I don't even care at all that this is an ad. Exceptionally well-done.

I just wish they’d engineer some product onto the empty shelves of bike shops across America. 👍🏽

Beautiful presenting, Oliver. Subscribed. 😍

The chain was mentioned almost in passing. Around the time of UG, chains changed dramatically. Instead of two side plates, a pin, a bushing and a roller, the bushing was eliminated. This produced a chain that was much more flexible laterally. This new flexibility made Hyperglide possible. The new sprocket shapes and flexible chain work wonderfully on older bikes without index shifting as well. I had a 1970’s Motobecane tandem with bar end shifters. I bought a new 6-speed Hyperglide freewheel and chain for it and it transformed the shifting.

Definitely heard of it. It says on their website. Did not know that hyperglide was why the spline system was made though. Honestly thought we'd used splines all the time.

Wow Video. I liked it after watching it for 2 mins. Very informative. Thanks.

That yellow bike looks AMAZING. I really want one now

Huh. I have one of those hybrid freehub bodies. I was changing my 1989 Centurion Dave Scott Master from Uniglide to Hyperglide and found it at the local "community" bike shop bin-o-parts. Worked great. I still have all the Uniglide parts as well, including the chain!

Ah, but is it one WIDER spline, or one NARROWER spline? THAT is the question!* I remember the introduction of Hyperglide. Lots of criticism of the reduced tooth profile, leading to faster wear was the main complaint. Oh, and that you couldn't use older cogs. And that users couldn't pick "custom" gear combinations anymore. The old cog boards in shops quickly disappeared. *I've always considered the wider open space. Others look for the narrow spline. Tomato, tomahto, I guess!

When talking about the uniglide system you didn’t mention the single “w” cut tooth to enable better shifting

Ugh! This video sent me down a rabbit hole researching the hub/cassette on my Shimano Sante group set that I purchased new in the late 80's and is still in great condition. I think it's a uniglide (indexed and shaped teeth but no ramps) with SIS down tube shifters. What's cool is that the shifters can be changed on the fly for either friction or "click" indexed operation.

3 weeks to go before Shimano new groupset! cant wait

I had a hard time sourcing my DuraAce 7403 rear 8 speed hub. It has a rounded acorn nut to help spread the frame for the newer 130mm. I love old DA stuff. Such great history

absolutely love your style, delivery. funny AF.!

Fantastic series. Well done.

I've used both HG and UG, HG was a massive improvement and provides silky-smooth shifts even under load

Hyperglide also has great compatibility across the years. Any 6, 7 , or 8 sprocket cassette is compatible width-wise with any other of the same count. 9 and up get a little weird. I purchased a bike with an 11-21, not enough ratio for hills for my liking. I purchased two E-bay HG 8 speed cassettes, an 11-28 and a 11-32. Everything is compatible and the spline hub accepted everything I gave it. I got the gearing I need, and the shifting is pretty quiet and fast.

I'm not only viscerally familiar with hyperglide but I'm also familiar with that frame. I was an apprentice race mechanic when those came out!!

Just watched this and the Sean Kelly vid. Only had hit a purple patch of form 👏🏻 Personally, I think historical bike tech is a fascinating subject. So much content...

I have that rare Dura ace hub that does both uniglide or hyper glide. It came with domed nuts so it can squeeze into a 126 rear or a 130 rear. Still using it today (with a 10 speed cassette), it’s very versatile

Excellent presentation Ollie of a much underated idea we all take for granted today. Now where are those unboxed uniglide chains I had lying around?

I really like the information given about sprocket arrangement; Some-of which I've never thought about. Now, I have noticed the pattern, but never gave it a thought. Great video! Now, just out of curiosity. What type of frame were you rolling on? A very interesting design to say the lease.

I still ride a lugged steel road bike from the mid-1980s. It has its original Shimano 600 components - including a Uniglide hub - but when I wanted to change the gear ratios, I switched out the Uniglide cassette for a modern Hyperlide one, along with a Hyperglide chain. Even with the old friction shifters, the difference is absolutely night and day in the shifting smoothness and precision. So yes, I very much appreciate Shimano's engineering in this area.

This video interchanged the term freewheel and cassette, the most dastardly of cycling nomenclature flubs.

if there's anyone who are using a mountain bike, you should have heard about the hyperglide+. it shifts more smoothly than the regular hyperglide.

Waiting for GCN's review on Shimano New Electronic Brake System.

Awesome video, makes me proud to be riding shimano xt on my bike

great show, thank you.

I've used a wide range uniglide cassette for a long time, and have to say it works really well. There's a bit more noise when shifting, and it can take a fraction of a second longer before the chain engages, but there's absolutely nothing wrong with it. I suspect it will last five times longer than any hyperglide cassette, looking at the contact area between the chain and sprockets.

Very cool video and that bike is just WOW👀

Well done Ollie cool bike history as always

I had shimano dx deore components on my offroad proflex 752 that i bought in jan 1992. The cassette and chain were hyperglide. I want to restore this beautiful bike one of these days

Of all the places to hear about home and away I wasn't expecting it from ollie, let alone gcn

Anyway, if maybe not underrated but more taken for granted and forgotten, I think the biggest innovation in cycling is pneumatic tires. And that is such a big thing there's nothing else even coming close.

Ollie has a unique talent to make all the videos very interesting!

I remember seeing those magnesium framesets' ads in the back of Bicycling Mag back in the late 80's when I first started riding seriously. They were and still are wild looking. I heard they were pretty brittle though. Cool to see one still intact and looking untouched!

British accent instantly makes everything more legit.

Shimano Hyperglide was presented back in 1987/88. At that time I have been driven the Sachs eloptoid drive, also available by Shimano as „Biopace“.

I enjoyed a early version on a Giant Chronos. Crank up a hill and shift in either direction was pretty cool. Within in a year though I started breaking chains. The fourth break took out the rear derailleur, locked up the rear wheel, wore off a brand new tire and screwed up the rim. I was doing about 45KPH on the flat coming off a hill. Never again.

I'm so grateful for Shimano had been created these technologies, although they are failing in MT GROUP SETS and SRAM is getting bigger like GX airless.

Some questions (because I didn't really understand, well, anything): what's a cassette; what is a sprocket; what is a shimano; what is a downtube; what is a D2 STI lever; what is a cog (in this conterxt); what is a ramp; what is a freehub; what is a spline; what is a lockring; what is a chamfer? Really great video, mate. I loved hearing about this technology that I'd never even considered before. And, if I knew what in the fuck you were talking about, I'd be over the moon.

Back on my bike, yrs have passed since my last ride, and I was amazed at how things have changed since the sixties , the cassettes are things of beauty, so much so I took one to bed along with head torch to really look at it, the gilf thought I was bonkers , ..

I noticed this when moving up from my old friction shift road bikes with plain tooth cogs, especially the older Suntour Alpha freewheels. Switching to SunRace chromed freewheels with nicely shaped teeth really improved shifting. I even prefer the SunRace 7- and 8-speed chromed cassettes over some of the older Shimano Hyperglide cassettes. The SunRace shift more crisply and run more quietly with both my older Suntour Accushift and various Shimano SIS setups. Ollie looks a bit uncomfortable with those long cranks on that TVM Kirk Precision. Reminds me, I need to ditch the 175 cranks on my Diamondback Podium in favor of 170 cranks. Technically 175 fit me, but they never feel quite right and pedaling always feels a bit labored, and it's a chore to get the saddle/seat post height just right. I didn't realize how much difference crank length made until I bought an older Trek 5900 from a friend who set it up with 170 cranks because that's what he had in the shop. Felt perfect.

remember the day well, changing from down tube shifters Record sprint to Shimano 600STI on a Dyna-tech 705, when we kept training charts on the wall, shaved 2min off on the first day out. never looked back since

I have a new road bike with a Shimano 105, a new gravel bike with GRX810, and a old hard tail MB with a SRAM Duo Drive. The later is the better drive train hands-down! Shifts faster, smoother, requires little maintenance, almost bullet proof and I can change gears while stopped. Plus the hand grip shifter is super convenient to use. SRAM - Please bring it back.

Shimano 105 Di2 🙏🏻

A few points: 1:22 what you have there isn't a freehub body (which is attached to the wheel) it's a freewheel (which screws onto the wheel). Directional chains weren't used by Shimano until relatively recently (around 2010 or so) and they are usually for 10 speed drivetrains and upwards. Mavic had its Zap electronic shifting on Tour bikes in 1992 but it didn't turn out to be very reliable (especially in the rain). They also had a bit of a run in with the UCI when their aero shifter was retro-actively banned, after being told that it would comply with UCI regulations (this was after they started making it too)! Shimano obviously learned from this when designing their Di2 system! The first Dura Ace (Di2) and Ultegra (Ui2) systems weren't compatible either, as Dura Ace had redundant connections in the wiring, and Ultegra didn't - the connectors were different. As far as the "launch" of Hyperglide goes it wasn't a public launch as such. In fact Shimano thought of it as more an evolution of Uniglide and not a completely new technology - hence the very similar names. I do remember that most HG cassettes had "Hyperglide" emblazoned on the large sprocket in a very noticeable colour (red mainly), but later on they toned it down a bit on the higher end groupsets. Most shop staff, at least where I worked, were told by the reps that came around to emphasize how hyperglide made shifting under load much smoother than before, because of the tooth profiles. I don't actually recall that anyone complained about faulty cassettes though. They did, however, complain about the "broken" teeth on the chainset, as 3 or 4 teeth on the middle chainring (of the triple setups) were twisted to aid shifting up from the small ring. This was usually on the cheaper groupsets, which were more commonly used by the "less technically inclined" cyclists, whereas higher groupsets used proper pins for shifting. This was, however, in the early 90s with the introduction of Hyperdrive - the equivalent of HG but for the chainset. If you want to know about an unsuccessful Shimano shifting technology then look no further than IG. This was an attempt to improve on HG and make it even smoother. It was designed to only let the chain shift at specific points on both the cassette and the chainset (in both directions). The problem was that if you happened to shift at the wrong point then the shift wouldn't happen until the chain reached one of the shift areas. Needless to say most people didn't like the much slower shifting and it also became much more sketchy under load with a worn chain! As far as I can remember this only appeared on mid-range groupsets and not the ones the pros would use. A lot of Tour riders in the early 90s would actually use the downtube shifters in preference to STI on their bikes for the mountain stages, as they were lighter. I wouldn't be surprised if that Kirk bike was specced for a mountain stage.

I have always been an early adopter. I had a mountain bike 🚵‍♀️ and a hybrid with Hyperglide. It was great. I did however ride my late 80s racing bike 🚴 with SIS down tube shifters for a decade because I really loved the bike. Once I got Campy ergo shifters on a new bike everything changed for my road riding. I also liked SRAM Gripshifts on my hybrid and mountain bikes 🚲 when they came out. 👍☮️🌞🌟🚲

I imagine lots of people know about Hyperglide, as its printed on the cassette. But I appreciate the explanation :)

Great vid! 👌

I like the Kirk Precision bikes. I still have my frame. It rode like a wet noodle though. It was so flexible my paint was cracking off the frame.

Some may have forgotten that Suntour introduced the slant-parallelogram derailleur and indexed shifting well before Shimano but it never caught on. Shimano came to market with a similar system and was able to promote it well enough that it took over Suntour's Accushift indexed system along with Campagnolo, Simplex and Huret.... and Shimano rose to the top. I always felt bad for Suntour. I loved the Suntour Accushift system, derailleur's , cranks, hubs and brakes!

Worth mentioning Hyperglide came from the exploding MTB scene. Most road bike freewheel had a jump of 1 to 2 teeth ok for smooth shifting but MTB had 4 or even more teeth jump and the chain could not ramp up or down without mashing. Also the name was pattened not the design of the ramps. Its just normal wear pattern.

just changed a Hyperglide cassette on my vintage MTB yesterday.

Agree completely - Brilliant engineering.

I think it's damn amazing tech, how they came up with the keyed system so that each sprocket could only be placed in the right position and also only the right way round. Very ingenious.